


black roses

by PinkHydrangea



Series: love like you [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, some traces of jokamu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 12:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9122965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkHydrangea/pseuds/PinkHydrangea
Summary: The sound of something crashing is what wakes up Kamui. It’s what always wakes her up. She really has no need of an alarm on her phone or a butler to gently shake her awake when she has cute Felicia, always up bright and early, always breaking plates or falling down the last two stairs or doing both at once.





	

**Author's Note:**

> UHHHHHH k so this is the beginning of a modern au series which, at first, was just gonna be some saigero and nyxthur stories but then like. got out of control. now it's a whole deal and basically everyone is in it and i Didn't Mean For This To Happen I'm Sorry.  
> if not everything is entirely clear in this chapter, it isn't supposed to be! Kamui and Corrin are twins in this au, and Corrin's half is a companion piece to this that fills in gaps and explains a little more. but yeah basically it's a modern au where Nohr and Hoshido are rival corporations, kind of follows the Revelation timeline somewhat because it's my favorite timeline, it'll have. stuff. no large, cohesive plot, mostly little things. i've never done a series before, just multi-chapter fics, so im excited to experiment with this format!

The sound of something crashing is what wakes up Kamui. It’s what always wakes her up. She really has no need of an alarm on her phone or a butler to gently shake her awake when she has cute Felicia, always up bright and early, always breaking plates or falling down the last two stairs or doing both at once.

She sits up in her bed and yawns, flumping back onto the pile of feather pillows. Early morning light washes in through the tall windows, and she blearily glares at the cityscape outside. She would have preferred if Felicia could have waited at least another hour before making her first mistake of the morning, but nothing to be done about it, she supposes.

The door to her bedroom opens slowly, and Gunter leans in, his eyes roving over everything before landing on her. “Did Felicia wake you up, Miss? Not to worry, you can go back to sleep.”

Kamui throws the comforter off of her and swings her legs over the side of the bed. Her nightgown flows down to her calves, and she stifles a yawn between her fingers before telling him, “It’s fine. It’s not bad waking up early once in a while.”

Gunter smiles, nods to her, and shuts the door as gently as he opened it. She walks over to her closet, rifling through the various clothing articles, wondering just what to wear. Silas is coming over, and possibly Kaze as well. She always likes looking nice when Silas comes, because he puts in such an effort to look nice for her, and the same goes for Kaze. Leo had mentioned something about coming over as well, too, and heavens know that if he walks in and she’s still in her nightgown, he’ll give her a tonguelashing she won’t forget.

She settles on a long skirt and a blouse and exits her room, and, as she does every single morning, she hears Jakob yelling.

“Did you hear what Gunter said, you clumsy girl? You woke up Miss Kamui! Do you really think she wants to be woken up at this hour because you can’t hold a plate longer than five seconds?”

A long, noisy sniff from Felicia, and then, “I’m gonna apologize! You’re so mean, Jakob. It’s not like I want to drop everything, and it’s not like I want to bother Kamui.”

“Miss Kamui,” Jakob corrects, and she can practically see him scoff and toss his head. “I wish we had sent you away instead of Flora.”

“Terrible! You’re just terrible, Jakob! Why someone as nice as Kamui lets a terrible man like you stay around, I’ll never know.”

Kamui loves Jakob, for certain, but it’s always satisfying to hear Felicia stand up for herself and set him in his place. He splutters, and Felicia flees the kitchen, running straight past her undoubtedly to the safety of Gunter’s presence. Hard footsteps pound from inside the kitchen and Jakob follows close behind, his hands gripping the doorway fiercely.

“Come back here, you little twit, I’ll--” He stops and looks at Kamui, and she smiles back at him.

“Are you and Felicia already arguing?” she asks, and his face turns pink.

“I- I’m dreadfully sorry, Miss Kamui. You shouldn’t have to hear us being so rude so early in the morning.” He puts a hand to his chest and bows slightly, and Kamui feels refreshed at his old-fashioned manners. “Your breakfast is being prepared now. Would you like to go wait in the sitting room?”

She walks past him and runs a hand over his shoulder briefly as she goes. He jolts under her touch, and a wave of satisfaction rushes over her. “I think I’ll do just that. Thank you.”

When she heads into the sitting room, everything is immaculate, and it’s no wonder: Gunter is cleaning it, and he wipes every last speck of dust off the pale furniture, vacuums the dark hardwood floors and polishes them to perfection, and fluffs every cushion until they look brand new. It’s all so pretty that she’s almost loathe to sit down, but Felicia is already hovering around her and insisting she take a seat so that she can have something to drink while she reads the morning news.

Kamui tucks her legs under her as she reaches for the tablet on the coffee table, and the screen bursts to life as she gives the power button a poke. Jakob comes in, sets a tray of waffles and drinking chocolate in front of her, and leaves before she can even say thank you.

She scrolls the news websites, looking for any bit of interesting information, but there is nothing regarding the Hoshido Corporations today. There is, however, an article that features Camilla and her recent project, but before she can click on it, Felicia comes into the room with a short stack of napkins.

“Jakob forgot to bring these to you,” she says, and she hands them to her carefully. “He doesn’t want your hands to get sticky.”

“Always fussing like a mother hen, isn’t he?” she asks, and Felicia smiles. “By the way, have you heard anything from Flora?”

Up until three months ago, it would have been Flora that Jakob asked to bring Kamui an entire stack of napkins, but now Flora is gone, off as an official employee of Nohr Corporations, an ambassador between her own family and Kamui’s. Flora had definitely not been sad to go; she had always been a capable caretaker, but always lied through her teeth when asked if she enjoyed it. Kamui doubts that she likes being an employee of the company either. Her distaste for any aspect of the DePrince family is glaringly obvious when she can allow it be so.

“She, uh, doesn’t message me much,” Felicia mumbles, so obviously disappointed that Kamui feels an intense rush of pity for her. “I think she’s doing fine. Relations between our families are improving, sort of. There’s less fighting, and Father isn’t threatening to leave the corporation as much as he used to.”

Kamui hums and sets the tablet down, reaching for her breakfast instead. Jakob’s cooking always smells mouthwatering, and she can hardly wait to get her hands on it.

“Your friend is coming at noon,” Gunter reminds as he reenters the room. “Would you like me to prepare anything?”

She lifts the drinking chocolate from the tray and swirls it around, noting with disappointment that it’s a little tepid. She should have drank it as soon as Jakob brought it to her. She could ask him to make her another cup and he would do it in a second, but there’s no need to inconvenience him that way.

“I think Silas and I will just be talking today,” she says. “Thank you for the offer, however.”

There’s a knock at the door half-a-second later, echoing through the quiet penthouse and Jakob is there before any of them can even react. He opens the door and grimaces at the man who walks in, but takes a polite step back.

“Kaze,” he says.

The man smiles. “Jakob. Nice to see you today.”

Gunter leaves the room, Felicia starts straightening the already perfect cushions, and Jakob shuts the door as Kaze approaches Kamui. She stands and holds her arms out to him, delighted when he immediately hugs her.

“I thought you would be coming later,” she says to him, and Kaze glances around the room.

“I didn’t want to be here when your other siblings came over,” he responds. “Your eldest brother is still the only one who knows about any of this, correct?”

She presses her lips and goes back to her breakfast. “Yes, he is. Poor Camilla might have a fit if she knew about any of this business”

* * *

 

_ Six Months Prior _

Kamui takes another turn, nearly running into the wall, and feels like she might throw up. She can hear the hollow sound of Iago walking briskly behind her, and her eyes look left, right, looking for anywhere she can hide. A supply closet, an office, a room, anywhere that Iago will not find her, but the Himura’s mansion is unfamiliar, its style completely foreign, and she doesn’t even know what she is looking for.

Having Elise and Leo sneak her out of the penthouse and to this party was not a good idea, but the thought of walking around in a fancy dress and being free had been too tempting. But she hadn’t known that Iago would be here. Iago or Hans, but there they were, and she is definitely certain that they know she is here. There is no other reason that Iago would be following her through the halls of this building, taking every turn she takes and going up and down all the stairs she does. But she can’t let them see her, because the moment they have proof is the moment they can call her father, and the moment they call her father, something bad will undoubtedly happen to Elise and Leo.

Her eyes prick with tears, as she rushes up another flight of stairs, at the thought of her younger siblings being brutally punished for something she begged them to do. She has looked so forward to this party, but she has to find somewhere to hide for the rest of the evening, until Elise comes to find her and tell her that Iago and Hans are gone, and it’s okay.

Iago’s footsteps are growing closer, closer, as he walks faster, and Kamui’s breath starts to catch in her throat. The next turn is too far away, and at this rate, he’ll turn the corner and see her.

Just as she thinks she might burst into panicked tears, a hand reaches out of the darkness and latches onto her wrist gently.

She thinks to shriek as she’s dragged towards the shadow underneath a flight of stairs, but then Iago will hear her. Instead, she simply physically resists, clawing at the hand holding her, but a sweet voice, calm as a breeze, whispers, “Please, this way. The man following you won’t find you in here.”

The person holding her moves her against the wall, and Kamui feels it give behind her. He urges her a little more, and she realizes that the wall is actually some kind of door, and she wonders: Who in the world is so dramatic that they need a secret door?

She takes another few steps back, the person pushes her further and further, until they’re in a lit room instead of the dark hallway. The person, a tall man with muted green hair and a strong jaw, immediately shuts the door behind them, and Kamui feels like she can breathe now that she no longer hears Iago’s footsteps trailing her.

The room is small, but still spacious, but there is hardly anything in it. A desk filled with study materials and a small refrigerator, but other than that, nothing. The walls are a cute shade of pink, and the floor is smooth hardwood that she anxiously crosses as the man turns.

“Who are you?” she demands, ready for him to attack or do something, but he doesn’t take a single step towards her.

“I’m Kaze,” he tells her. “I’m sorry to have grabbed you like that, but you seemed to really not want to be seen by that man, and I was sent to pick you up anyway, so-”

Her stomach drops. “You were sent to pick me up? By who? Leo? Elise?” Her voice drops and she clenches her skirt in her hands. “D-does Xander know I’m here?”

Kaze looks at her and quirks his eyebrows, clearly amused. “No, but a family member of yours did send me.” He crosses the room and passes her, and when he pushes the wall, another secret door appears. “If you come with me this way, I’ll show you to them.”

Kamui knows that she should not follow a strange, mysterious man who likes using secret doors, but Iago is outside, and she’s willing to do just about anything to escape him. Besides, this Kaze has sweet eyes and a kind smile, and she can’t imagine him hurting a fly. And if he does try to hurt her? Xander always did say she was a fierce fighter.

She walks through the door that Kaze holds open for her, and lets him guide her through the ornately decorated halls. It seems much brighter here than where she was before, and when she questions why, he tells her that this is the area of the mansion where the Himura family mostly resides.

“Why am I in the Himura family’s living quarters?” she asks, and her stomach starts to turn again, and she wonders: Is this some sort of assassination attempt? Father has always told her of the cruelty of the Himura family. Is she about to witness it firsthand? She should have never snuck out.

“I understand that you are anxious, but you don’t have to worry,” Kaze assures. They reach a room with a tall door, red and beautifully decorated, and he rests a hand against it. “It’s not my place to explain it to you, so I’ll allow them.”

He pushes the door open, and inside is a woman with hair as dark as pitch, a man with a wild mane of hair, and a boy who looks suspiciously like herself.

* * *

 

“Do you want something to eat, Kaze?” she asks. “Will you be sticking around?”

Kaze shakes his head, but pulls a stack of paper letters, bound with pretty red ribbon, out of the inside of his coat. “I’m afraid I can’t. Miss Azura needs an escort to a show in a couple of hours, and I need to get ready. Your offer is most kind, however.”

Kamui smiles and pulls on the bow binding the letters, and rifles through them. Each one has a name written on the back: Ryoma, Hinoka, Sakura, Takumi, Azura, Corrin. Mother. Mother’s envelope is the thickest, and Takumi’s is scant. He never has had much to say to her, even after six months.

“Do you think Takumi hates me?” she asks Kaze, and he laughs nervously.

“I would not say ‘hate,’” he says. “He’s just not very friendly in the first place, and accepting a long-lost sister and being able to communicate with her through letter alone? I believe it makes him anxious. He’s concerned that you are going to hurt him and the rest of your family.”

She frowns and turns Takumi’s letter over in her hands. It’s two pages at most, but feels more like one. “I would never. I wish I could communicate that to him.”

Kaze stands and brushes off his coat. “One day, you shall. Until then, the letters will have to do.”

“Let me walk you to the door,” she says, and she holds the letters tightly to her chest as Jakob, once more appearing out of nowhere, opens the door dutifully. “Thank you for helping us, Kaze. I’ll send Jakob with my letters soon enough. Be careful on your way home.”

He looks back at her, smiles, and waves, and Jakob shuts the door, harshly and prematurly.

Kamui frowns. “Did you really have to be so unfriendly?” she asks him.

Jakob scowls and peers out the window, likely confirming Kaze’s departure. “You don’t need that man. I’m perfectly capable of sending and receiving your letters.”

Kamui frowns and sets her letters down on the edge of the sofa. “You know that that’s dangerous. If you were going to that side of town so frequently, Iago and Hans would get suspicious, and then who knows what Father would do?”

He scowls deeper, an expression he rarely shows directly to her, and grabs the empty breakfast tray off the table. Felicia peeks back into the room, but flees as soon as she sees Jakob walking in her direction.

Kamui sighs, picks up the letters again, and heads back into her room.

She only has a few hours to read them, respond to them, before she has to burn them.


End file.
